Inbound Marketing for Dummies

Inbound Marketing- What is it and how does it work?

Permission or Content Marketing

This is meant to be a very simple primer on how you can benefit from a new creative way to market your business.

Simply put, your companies inbound marketing goal is to have customers come to you, or take some definitive and measurable action based on the great or compelling content you have generated. If your goal is to earn the interest of your prospects by producing content of value, then you are on the right track. This is not a random approach or another way to try to make wacky viral videos. Several steps should be followed but with great emphasis on creativity and coming up with unique and interesting ideas or angles on existing information, news, or products.

There are several things that should be emphasized when looking to get your company focused on the goal of building a stream of interested shoppers. First of all, you need to make certain that you can be found or contacted easily. Simple, clever, easy-to-remember domain names and branding help here. Clutter free, concise websites that are easily accessed both by shoppers and search engines alike.

Secondly, you must produce content of value to your targeted audience. Does your aging middle-aged account executive like golf? Great. Does he need some hair dye and a fancy new BMW to boost his ego? Most likely. Good, you are further along to identifying your audience’s interests. What sort of content could get him riled up (besides Cialis of course). Start brainstorming and generating some ideas, write some great content such as articles, blog posts, or maybe an eBook on how the “Middle Aged Belly Paunch is ruining America”, or some other savory title. Even better, how about a Video that offers enough to hook their interest, while baiting them to come read more on your website, or Video Channel, blog, etc. As an aside, you may even be able to create a desire to have other sites, news channels, or industry experts link directly to your content. This is called linkbaiting, and it is good.

Inbound Marketing is sometimes called Permission Marketing or even content marketing.

SUMMARY: Make certain your website is easily found. Then, define your Audience and Create content of value to that audience. Reap the sweet nectar that follows.

Outbound Marketing- I used to know you.

In contrast, outbound marketing is more of a shotgun approach as it you actually pay for placement or media. This often includes methods such as banner ad buys, TV or Radio Advertisements, Direct Mail and just about all Traditional Advertising techniques. It is often said that outbound marketing consists of “buying, begging, or bugging” their way into a customer via paid ads, Press Releases, or paying commissioned staff.

There is without doubt good methods, strategies, and techniques for both styles of Marketing. We’ve deployed both for our clients, and continue to heavily invest our time and effort into mastering new and unique techniques that will help our clients improve their sales and profits.

Stay tuned for more detailed breakdowns and dedicated focus on a few key elements of how this can work for you. If you would like to see us cover or address anything in particular, let us know.